R50 help

I just brought a pair of R50 towers online and I am looking for some experience feedback on these. I plan to use them at my parents home to upgrade their HT system in the family room (serious Mom factor). I gave them some old Pioneer Sats a few years back to replace some old Awia fronts and center (bookshelf size) that was part of a HT inthebox setup I got them back in the 90's. Over the years I have been slowly replacing each piece and trying to match up brands to cut down on remote roulette. After their old 55"Mit's died from a power outage, I went with Samsung theme for them Starting with a 55" plasma (last year they made them), a couple of Samsung blu ray players for both the family room and master bedroom. I found a Samsung AVR HW C700 that completed the setup and each device worked off one remote. I gave them a more powerful sub to replace the smaller Monoprice one I got them a year ago and it fills the room much better. I wish I had this room in my home, its about 15W x 25L, it has 2 levels the main floor is 15W x 15L with the upper level taking up the last 8-10 feet. When this addition was added to the house back in the 70's I was in high school and home theater was not even a twinkle in anyone's eye. And my parents are in their 80's now so the room is only used for bible studys and holidays. My mom has it setup to have people face each other and not have the TV as the main focus of the room, so the mom factor is major!

I think the R50's would work well in this room (thick carpet, thick drapies and 2 large couches and lazyboy chair to knock out much of any reflection of sound), I am looking for a nice center now, but it needs to be thin (bar type) to fit under the TV (4" gap height) any ideas would be welcomed. I'll post a picture of the room by Friday when I drop off the speakers.

Comments

I had the R50's back in '05. I liked them quite a bit. They really were a step up from the JBL speakers that I owned prior and they were one of my first forays into Polk Audio. The speakers are tall but not too wide. Front port makes placement pretty easy. had them matched to the CSi20 center channel initially and then the CSi25 when one became available later on. Those are the 2 "matching" center channels for the R series but they are not slim by any means.

Great for filling a large room with soft, balanced sound, and it doesn't take much power to do it. Guests never complained, which I always thought was interesting since I considered them to be a somewhat "veiled" speaker. Then again I don't know of any guests of mine who would be considered enthusiasts. I can't imagine any of them commenting on the imaging, transparency, or lower and upper roll offs.

Generally, though, I think most layman listeners expect a natural sound, and the R50 did not fall short in that respect. They sounded neither boomy nor tinny; neither refined nor unrefined. They were just there to faithfully get the movie or music out there for people's ears to absorb. In fact, it was a couple of years ago that someone asked me if I wanted to get rid of them because it was brought up that I had them in the garage. My response was something like, "Really you want those?" He goes, "Yeah they sounded great." I'm like come on no you don't want those. He's like yeah what do you have against them. So, I guess in some regards I could label them a crowd pleaser.

Finally sold them for $75 to a guy who was planning to pair them with a restored 1980s-era direct drive turntable. Yes we really had a conversation about vinyl. Then he goes, "How do they sound?" I said, "Well, they're Polk's most entry-level speaker. They sound like they're supposed to sound I guess considering that they work properly. I'm not sure what you mean exactly. Should I hook them up for a demo?" He then handed me the cash and said, "Nah, I'll take 'em."

So, it was like 10 years ago that the R50s went into storage when they were replaced by a Monitor SII 5.1 with a PSW110 sub. The difference was very noticeable. Then when sigs came out I decided a bookshelf 2.0 was all I really needed for the type of listening I do. With the 5.1, it was normally switched to stereo with the bass turned down most of the time, so it was basically just a 2.0 anyway. Sigs are vastly better, and I have no regrets.

But, I've heard the T series at Best Buy plenty of times, and wow they are amazing for the money. They're basically the new R series. But clearly the R series while not being terrible at all just don't have what the T series offers.

Thanks guys, it sounds like these will fit the bill for my parents, as they will hardly get used and never pushed to a high level. I have a pair of the R30's in my oldest daughter room and they sound good in her small bedroom paired with a 50 watt 8" sub. These will get paired with a 10" 120 watt Audio Acoustic sub.

Picked up the R50's this morning and dropped them off at my parents house. Didn't have time to do a full test and mic setup, but my parents where happy. Here are a couple of pictures of their family room

I got ahold of the guy that I brought the R50'sfrom and he is going to sale me a pair of R15's and a CS10 for $100, so I will switch out the old (Awia) surround rears with the R15's and I found a old Parasound Center that will fit under the TV. I'll keep the CS10 and compare it to the CS1 ii I have and see if its better.

Dropped off the R15's Friday at my parents house (they just got back from Texas) mom was all smiles, she loves the R50, but I suspect its has nothing to do with the sound quality. She has already found more nick nacks to place on top of them (SMH). What I like about this project the most is the remote from Samsung that controls all the components, makes so much easier for them and cuts down on the phone calls to my house on how to work something. I learn a lot from my parents over the last decade as they age. Independence is very valuable when you know your physical abilities are declining, for those that still have your parents with you, treat them well as if they were gold for your time will come when you will want your children to value you as much.